Chongzhen and the queen and others talked and laughed for a while before they dispersed from Zhongcui Palace, and Wang Qiang also resigned from the palace. said that this queen, when she returned to Kunning Palace, was a little uneasy. This queen's family name is Zhou, she is the daughter of Jiading Bo Zhou Kui, and after Chongzhen ascended the throne, she was elected to the palace to be the queen. This week, the queen's mother is the world, ruling the six palaces, her status is noble, she has always been very tolerant, and she gets along well with other concubines. After Concubine Li gave birth to a prince, her identity was different, but Concubine Li did not rely on having a prince to compete for favor, but repeatedly pushed the emperor to other concubines, so this week the queen did not have a gap with Concubine Li. But today, Chongzhen publicly enshrined Wang Qiang as the crown prince! The implicit meaning is that doesn't it mean that the prince is the crown prince by default! That's the future emperor! Once Chongzhen Dragon returns to the west, this child ascends the throne, when the time comes, the mother is more precious than the son, and Concubine Li will be respected as the queen mother, and what about herself? If you get it right, you can still get the false name of the queen mother, but if you don't get it right, it is the name of a concubine, although it is only a word difference, the status is very different!

The queen sat sullenly on the spring bench alone, thinking to herself: "Do you want me to kowtow to Concubine Nali one day?" That's not going to work! Look at her proudly, do you think she has settled on the position of the queen mother! also bypassed me and directly pointed out the marriage to Wang Qiang, which is obviously paving the way for her son to ascend the throne in the future! Wang Qiang and his wife are both slaves she has called, and they have no way to repay their masters. What can I do? It's all my unassailable belly. "Queen Zhou's woman has a small sexual seizure, and she thinks about it a lot.

Queen Zhou thought about it for a long time, but she didn't have any idea, she remembered her father Zhou Kui, so she instructed the eunuch to ask Jiading Bo Zhou Kui to enter the palace to visit quickly.

After about half an hour, Jiading Bo Zhou Kui was led to the middle palace by the eunuch, and the queen ordered someone to give Jiading Bo a seat. Zhou Kui sat down, and the queen sent others away and talked with Zhou Kui secretly.

Zhou Kui asked, "Niang Niang is in such a hurry to summon me, but is there anything important?" ”

The queen was embarrassed to say directly, and said perfunctorily: "It's nothing important, just remember the second elder in the family, and come to talk to you about Tian'er." ”

Zhou Kui is an old man, seeing his daughter's depressed demeanor, he knew that there must be something that could not be solved, so he said tentatively: "Everything is fine at home, the mother doesn't have to worry, but you should pay more attention to yourself." ”

The queen sighed and said angrily: "I'm not the same as before, who dares to do anything to me, it's just that this Concubine Li gave birth to a prince, and she is becoming more and more presumptuous, thinking that she will be the queen mother in the future!" Hum! At the beginning, I didn't rely on that little eunuch to tell stories to invite pets, and I was disgusted when I saw her villain's ambition! Also, today's emperor enshrined Wang Qiang as the crown prince in front of everyone! ”

"I see." Zhou Kui immediately understood his daughter's thoughts, he stroked his beard, thought for a while, and said faintly: "This matter is indeed worrying, but the mother doesn't have to worry, there is a way for the father." ”

"Oh?" The queen glared at Zhou Kui and motioned for him to continue.

Zhou Kui smiled and said confidently: "All men like the new and hate the old for women, and the emperor is also the best." Now that the emperor is working on state affairs, he can't go everywhere to find beauty and hunt for beauty, not because he doesn't want to, but because he can't. Therefore, my father plans to go to the folk to collect some glamorous prostitutes and singers, put them in the house to train them, double their favor, and then choose the glamorous and clever people to offer them to the palace, put them on your side, and these people will hook them, and when the time comes, the emperor will run to your palace for three days and two ends, and if you have more times, you will naturally be pregnant. As long as you can give birth to a prince within two years, with your current position as the queen, who is the crown prince? ”

The queen listened reasonably, bowing slightly.

Zhou Kui continued: "As for Concubine Nali's foreign aid, you don't have to worry, I don't think Wang Qiang can afford to make much trouble as a little eunuch. You know the emperor's temperament, the most suspicious and changeable, especially for the prevention of the calamity of the eunuch party, although Wang Qiang is now prosperous, but sooner or later he will commit the emperor's taboo, as long as you blow a little wind in the emperor's ear, the emperor will have to abolish him as a eunuch! ”

The queen's eyes lit up when she heard this, and a smile gradually appeared on her face, and she thought with relief: "Hmph! Concubine Li, you slut, when I have a son, I must make you look good! ”

The words are divided into two ends, but they say Wang Qiang. This time I went back to Beijing to enter the palace to face the saint, most of the requests were approved, and the emperor also added an official to give marriage, and the favor was incomparable, so naturally I was grateful, and I had saved up enough energy to do a great job next year. He simply didn't go back to Tongzhou, so he rented a house in Lingjing Hutong, and while traveling around the various ministries to implement various missions, he was preparing to prepare for welcoming relatives. He wrote to Tian Jingming and Shang Dayong, informing them of the various matters discussed with Chongzhen, and asking them to start preparing for next year's work.

Three days later, the court issued a series of decrees: Tongzhou District as a whole is divided into special zones; Wang Qiang, as the minister of the special office of the special zone, is also the head of the three departments of the Ministry of Households, the Ministry of Industry, and the Ministry of War! The crown prince was given a young guarantee; transferred Zhang Hao to Tongzhou County; opening trade markets in Wuchang, Guangzhou, Luoyang and other places; The quasi-special zone organized and trained the militia group, and Wang Qiang also served as the head of the militia group. Wang Qiang became famous for a while, and in the eyes of everyone, it was a matter of time before Wang Qiang entered the cabinet.

Immediately afterwards, the news that the emperor gave Wang Qiang a marriage came out, and the ministers of the Chinese military department wanted to take this opportunity to pat Wang Qiang's horse ass, and rushed to the mansion to give gifts, and everyone knew that Wang Qiang did not lack silver in his hands, so they changed their methods to find all kinds of rare and valuable items as congratulatory gifts, and antiques, calligraphy and paintings, jewelry and jade quickly filled a room.

On the auspicious day of marriage, a team of people blew and beat the color bells with a sedan chair to Wang Qiang's house in Lingjing Hutong, the firecrackers at the door rang out, the drums were noisy, and then it was a ceremony such as singing happy songs, stepping into the brazier, worshipping heaven and earth, etc., which was very lively for a while. There was a flowing water seat in the courtyard, and the guests came and went all day, Wang Qiang wore red makeup, greeted him with joy, and was very busy. That night, Wang Qiang set up two tables of banquets in the courtyard, and invited the general ministers who are usually close friends to eat wine, and now Wang Qiang's status is precious, and everyone knows that Wang Qiang is a eunuch, and he has taboos in his heart, and he does not dare to gag and joke like before.

Seeing off the guests, the family hurriedly cleaned up the tables, chairs, dishes and chopsticks, Wang Qiang drank a few more glasses of wine, his face was red, his head was dizzy, he wore the groom's wedding dress, sat on the chair in the living room to sober up. At this time, the old mother in the house came in with two maids, and said with a smile at Wang Qiang: "Oh, I said master, why are you still staying here!" When the hour comes, it's time for you to go into the cave. ”

"Oh, by the way, it's time to go into the cave." Wang Qiang came back to his senses, thinking about Cai Ling'er's handsome appearance, he couldn't help but be moved, and said in his heart: "This time Lao Tzu doesn't have to be sneaky, we also have a daughter-in-law!" He got up and followed the old woman to the bedroom, and the old woman pushed the bedroom door with both hands, and found that the door was plugged in from the inside, and the old woman called softly, "Madam, open the door, the old man is here." ”

There was no movement inside, Wang Qiang was impatient, and he stepped forward and knocked on the door with some wine: "Madam, Cai Ling'er, open the door, let me in!" ”

There was still no movement inside, and after a while, I only heard the faint sound of crying inside, thinking that the ringtone consciously entrusted her life to a eunuch, and her heart was sad, and she was sad there. The old woman also knew that Wang Qiang was a eunuch, so she couldn't help but look at Wang Qiang embarrassedly and said, "Master, look at this ------"

Wang Qiang understood Cai Ling'er's state of mind, and he was angry and laughing in his heart, and said in his heart: "This little girl, on the first day of marriage, I released the pigeons of this master, and I will see how I clean you up another day. ”

He couldn't say it clearly, so he knocked on the door again and said to the house: "Hey, don't cry, I'm not like you think, you open the door." ”

Cai Ling'er in the house cried back, Wang Qiang was helpless, so he had to say: "Okay, since you are unhappy, forget it, go to bed early, I will sleep in the study today." After saying that, he turned around and left.

In the next few days, Cai Ling'er has been bitter, basically not out of the bedroom door, every meal is sent to the bedroom by the maid, and occasionally meets Wang Qiang is also cold, as if he doesn't know, as soon as the sky wipes the dark, he plugs the bedroom door and does not let Wang Qiang in. Wang Qiang didn't force it, he wandered around the various yamen during the day, looked for someone to eat and drink at night, and didn't come back until late every day, so he slept in the study. When all the family members saw it, they all sighed in their hearts: This eunuch is really pitiful!

On this day, Wang Qiang came to the Yamen of Dongchang to find Li Yifang, the official of Dongchang Factory, and planned to ask him to help select some helpers from prison.

Dongchang is the emperor's royal thrasher, and his power is all over the place, Li Yifang is the head of Dongchang, and he is also a eunuch, and he is extremely powerful. However, he knew that Wang Qiang was deeply favored by the emperor, and the emperor personally instructed him to help Wang Qiang choose people in advance, so he had already made preparations. As soon as Wang Qiang arrived, he handed over the prepared prisoner file to Wang Qiang, and he was by his side for consideration.

Wang Qiang browsed the file and met a suitable candidate, so he asked Li Yifang in detail about the cause of the case, and Li Yifang answered them one by one. This Emperor Chongzhen has a rigid temperament, and the promotion and dismissal of officials has always been a bit arbitrary, and if there is discord, he will dismiss people and dismiss them, and Suona will be imprisoned. But those criminals who were not remembered by Chongzhen were in trouble, they were at fault, and their crimes were not to death, but they could only be locked up without the emperor's will to release them. If there are people in the court, remind Jing Shi in front of the emperor, maybe there will be a day to come out, if there is no one, it will be miserable, because there are officials who have been imprisoned for several years because they said the wrong thing, so over time, the Dongchang Prison is overcrowded, and Li Yifang is also very troubled.

In just one hour's work, Wang Qiang singled out more than a dozen prisoners, most of whom were below the third grade, and they were all imprisoned for saying the wrong thing or being implicated by others.

Wang Qiang turned to the last file, this is a prisoner with the rank of deputy general, named Li Gang, who turned out to be a general in Shanhaiguan, he looked at the cause of the case is a conspiracy to rebel, but he has been detained for nearly eight years and has not been executed. couldn't help asking, "What's the matter with this Li Gang?" ”

Li Yifang glanced sideways at the file and replied: "This Li Gang was originally a general under Yuan Inspector, when the emperor killed Yuan Chonghuan, this Li Gang was also implicated and was arrested and imprisoned, and was convicted of conspiracy to rebel at that time, and later it was estimated that the emperor knew that he had wronged Yuan Inspector, and he didn't kill him in the two autumn duels, but there was no will to release him, so he was kept locked up like this, and the emperor dared to forget him." ”

In the early years, Chongzhen fell into the Jin people's counter-plot and killed the famous anti-Jin general Yuan Chonghuan Wang Qiang also heard about it, and felt that the strong general had no weak soldiers, and this Li Gang should be a capable person, so he asked: "Oh, I want this person, I don't know if it's okay?" ”

"Yes, of course!" Li Yifang shook his head and said: "Don't hide it from Lord Wang, you proposed to transfer people from the prison this time, but you have done our family a great favor, you think, the emperor wants to kill the person at that time, and the person who doesn't want to kill is locked up here, and the emperor himself has forgotten about it after a long time, and we can't remind the emperor that this and that should be killed or not, after so many years, this prisoner can't be pretended." ”

After the selection was completed, Wang Qiang didn't just leave, he kept thinking about how to rescue that Jiang Yuquan, when he was locked up in the Dongchang prison, Jiang Yuquan told him the secret of the treasure and wanted to save his life, although the treasure was useless, but Wang Qiang always felt that he owed Jiang Yuquan a favor. However, he also knew that Jiang Yuquan was a key offender of the eunuch party, and if he knew that he would definitely not succeed, it would be even more troublesome if Chongzhen knew about it.

Wang Qiang drank tea, looked around the room, and said as if inadvertently: "Gonggong Li, you just said that many people are locked up here because the emperor forgot about it, but this is only half right. Some of these people have been forgotten by the emperor, but some of them have been remembered by the emperor. Whether it's closed or released, the emperor actually knows it. The emperor is lofty and talented, and some thoughts are not something that we slaves can speculate about, are you right? ”

Li Yifang chuckled in his heart, and said secretly: It's bad, I accidentally said it just now, and I was caught by this Wang Qiang, if this word reaches the emperor's ears, it will be a matter for Jing Shi. He panicked, hurriedly got up and said: "What Lord Wang said is very true, what I mean is that the emperor has a lot of affairs, and he doesn't care about these people for a while. ”

"Master Li, you sit, sit, I'm just talking casually, it's not a big deal." Wang Qiang saw that his words worked, and he felt a little proud in his heart.

"Actually, I have squatted in your Dongchang Prison, I was locked up with you at the beginning, and there is also a Jiang Gonggong who has been imprisoned with me for many years. At that time, he also asked me to talk to the emperor and let him kill him quickly. Wang Qiang said.

"Well, his name is Jiang Yuquan, and he often speaks rebellious words." Li Yifang hurriedly said.

"Yes, it's Jiang Yuquan." He then said: "I'll mention someone, the emperor said that when I met that poor and pitiful, let us think about it, and specially instructed us to strictly control it after we go back, so that it will not be done again." Hey, has the emperor explained this to you? ”

Wang Qiang came to mention that the emperor had indeed explained to Li Yifang beforehand, and Wang Qiang's words just now were also the emperor's original words, Li Yifang nodded again and again: "The emperor has explained, this is what he said." ”

"Now that I've said that, then I don't have to rap. This Jiang Yuquan's body is crippled, and seeing that he has not lived for a few years, he can be regarded as a pitiful person, and I plan to take him back to the house to raise him. Wang Qiang said, looking at Li Yifang's expression with his eyes.

Li Yifang was surrounded by Wang Qiang like this, and was a little confused for a while, thinking that what Wang Qiang said about Chongzhen's confession was Jiang Yuquan, but Jiang Yuquan was the head of the eunuch party, which was a repeat offender, and he felt inappropriate to let it out, he hesitated and just wanted to ask, but Wang Qiang said faintly: "The emperor is far-sighted, and he is also imaginative, and some things are ordered, we don't understand and don't have to ask, just do it." ”

"Yes, yes."

"The emperor also said that although some things are done boldly, everything must be done safely, so as not to be known by the magistrate, and if you talk nonsense, it will cause trouble to the emperor." Wang Qiangdong kicked the west and finally knocked Li Yifang unconscious.

Li Yifang thought to himself: "It seems that this Wang Qiang's mention of Jiang Yuquan was appointed by the emperor, and it should be done in secret, and the removal of those people just now is just a pretense, and this Jiang Yuquan is the main master." I wouldn't be able to understand it, but I would be too stupid. Thinking so, he suddenly said: "I understand, I must cooperate with Lord Wang to do this thing beautifully." ”

"Hey, that's right, your Lao Li is an understanding person. An old eunuch was released, he was so old, and he was still injured, and he was gone after a few years of raising him with me, and he didn't know it, who knew how to go. Wang Qiang said with a smile.

"Lord Wang, rest assured, our family has our own arrangements for this matter, and we guarantee that nothing goes wrong." Li Yifang said.

Li Yifang was dizzy by Wang Qiang's words, and thought that it was secretly ordered by the emperor, he went to the emperor to tell Wang Qiang that he had hit a wall several times, and this time he learned to be obedient, and reported Jiang Yuquan's illness to the outside world, erased the file, and sent someone to secretly send it to Wang Qiang's mansion in Tongzhou a month later.